Rechargeable 123a's

[nemoaz]

I have seen a few listing for these on the web. Anyone use rechargeable 123's? I'm interested in a using them in an LED flashlight and maybe NVG's. How well do they work? Here is a link: http://www.batterystation.com/cr123a.htm

 

[troutfisher13111]

Thanks for the link. I did not know such a thing existed.

 

[scooby]

Be careful which light or device you use these in. They come off the charger at about 4.1V and will fry a device that cannot take the voltage. They can also explode if overcharged. Please read all you can before using these and learn about their dangers.

 

[gyro50000]

Here's a link to a recharger and batteries, I use them in my steripen adventure but use the 700ma batteries with a 700ma recharger. I haven't used them in a flashlight yet but some flashlights will burn out due to higher voltages. If you buy batteries for them and get a charger for them, get a 900ma charger for a 900ma battery for example. This company use to sell the 700ma charger for my steripen but it looks like he's out of stock or stopped carrying that charger. You can e-mail this company if you are interested in a charger for what ever batteries you carry and he'll tell you what you need. The reason I had mentioned the steripen adventure is that if you wanted a compact water purifier and flashlight batteries, you can get 2 bangs for the buck. Here is an example or what I'm getting at: I use Northern Tools fold able solar cells 5 watts x 4 (20 watts) to charge my batteries for the steripen adventure. I have enough batteries that I could use then for a light but I ended up using NIMH batteries for a 3 watt coast light from homeboy depo amd use a different recharger for that. I am looking into a coast light that uses cr123 to see if they will work but haven't had the time to do that much research on it yet.


http://www.all-battery.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=34

 

[Phil Brown]

Be forewarned, there are two different types of rechargeable 123s: standard and 3v limited. The ones that Battery Station is selling are the standard 4.2v (3.6v under load) variety. If you want to use these, make certain your light can handle 3.6v. The 3v limited cells include a PCB that steps the voltage down so they are a direct replacement for lithium primaries.

Most 3v RCR123As have grossly overrated capacities, especially the Tenergy 900mAh cells. They probably start out with about half that capacity, and the step-down circuit consumes power as well. They are not as great a deal as they seem. Note that a regular CR123A has a 1300-1500mAh capacity.

For those not familiar with safe handling of Li-ion batteries, I would suggest something less dangerous: lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries. You can buy them, along with a charger, from an individual here: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=125353. They may have less capacity than some of the other batteries, but they cannot be overcharged, are harder to over discharge, require no step-down circuit, and best of all they don't explode if you mistreat them.

 

[jnginma]

Here's a link to the 3v Tenergy batteries.
http://batteryjunction.com/rc390reliba.html

The description says "Initial cell voltage of 3.6V switches to 3-3.2V within 12ms." I've used them in a single cell LED flashlight (Nuwai Q3) w/o any problems. You also have to be sure to use the right charger for them.

As Martini alluded to, there are dangers w/ using lithium-ions (both rechargables and primaries) so do some researching on www.candlepowerforums.com to educate yourself on safe handling.